Menacing rise
of robbery

16 January, 2019 12:00 AM

The menace of robbery is seemingly growing unabated in Dhaka city and elsewhere in the country. House owners are the prime target of this ever-escalating criminality. Reportedly, in disguise of hawkers, tenants and social workers the bandits are trespassing into apartment buildings and looting cash and valuables by holding the victims at gunpoint. Earlier many such victims urged for strong governmental intervention in curbing these lawless elements but to no lasting effect. However, the popular expectation is that the present government will tackle the law and order issue more determinedly than in its previous terms.

According to a report in yesterday’s daily sun, on Saturday noon three women entered a house at Koratitola in Sayedabad under Jatrabari in the city in the name of renting a flat. At one point, they made unconscious the owners of the house, who are a couple, and looted gold ornaments and valuables.

It is very unfortunate that in this age of increased communication network and widespread presence of law enforcement agencies the country is still infested with robbers. If meet with slightest opposition, the criminals don’t hesitate to kill the victims. It is a very alarming situation and no one can feel secure. Bands of hoodlums not only strike a terror into the hearts and minds of their fellow humans but also are involved in illicit drug trade and other anti-social activities.

Amidst widespread security concerns, most of the house and shop owners in the city have installed CCTV cameras. But if the atmosphere of lawlessness grows in society, these sorts of security devices can bring little relief.

Apart from robbery we are also witnessing a growing case of abduction, mostly children of businessmen. Recently it was reported citing police record that on an average 15 to 16 cases of abduction are filed with each police station in greater Gazipur district.

We don’t live in a bandit kingdom. We have a modern polity with elected government, the police and all the paraphernalia of governance. So, we hope the outlaws would not be given a free rein.